Abernethy National Nature Reserve

Here we are, in our own little patch of forest wilderness, Dell Woods within the Abernethy Forest. The ‘Great Wood of Caledon’ is carpeted with sweet scented heather, blaeberry, juniper and myriad fungi under the canopy of Caledonian pine, birch and rowan. At Arbor we have regular visits from our woodland neighbours; red squirrels walk birch branches to feast by the patio, long-tailed tits can be heard tsirrupping from the sitooterie and we have even had sightings of badgers carrying out seed and nut heists under the cover of darkness!

The Abernethy National Nature Reserve covers 12755 hectares stretching up to the high lands of Cairngorm and Ben Macdui and contains within it one of the largest remaining areas of Caledonian pine forest in Scotland. All of this within the Cairngorms National Park which is home to many iconic Scottish species. There are several organisations working restore habitats and natural processes to further support the wealth of wildlife within the reserve including; Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB), Cairngorms Connect, Wildland and Scotland: The Big Picture. 

Bring your binoculars and you might sneak a peek at:

Red deer, roe deer and higher in the mountains, reindeer

Otters which have been spotted in the River Nethy

European pine martin

Mountain hare which sometimes look as big as roe deer from a distance

Red squirrel - we have squirrel feeders on the patio

Golden and white-tailed eagle

Osprey - it was to Loch Garten that ospreys returned in the 1050s after a period of extinction in the UK

Hooded crow

Capercaillie

Black and red grouse

Ptarmigan

Scottish crossbill

Snow bunting

Crested and long-tailed tit

Giant wood wasp

Dragonflies and damselflies

Fungi galore and much, much more!